Christmas in the Spring

Here are some pictures from Christmas. Which means I should be on track to have Easter pictures posted in the fall sometime. I have discovered I do not enjoy downloading pictures!!! That's the reason for the spotty blogging.

Abby LOVES her bed.
Such a good Daddy!! Tea time with Abby.
I could make a mural with all the pictures of at least 2 if not all 3 kiddos snuggled with Grammy in the lazy boy.
Not the best backdrop for a family picture, but it works
I had quite the fight with the boys on our christmas tree this year. I wanted a skinny and sparse tree, they didn't. I won, they didn't. It felt good!! The ornaments were made from squares of a quilt that my great-grandma Hannah Jacklin made. We all got a few squares of Hannah's quilt at the Family reunion last summer (thanks Reva Beth), and I thought ornaments would be perfect. I will love pulling them out every year.
I love their handwriting. I thought I kept the notes, but can't seem to find them. bummer

Chad spent a few cold evenings in the garage working on Christmas gifts for me. He fired up Mr. Heater and let the kids roast marshmallows and made them hot chocolate. Best daddy ever!!

Wearing our crowns from English Christmas Crackers. Spencer wasn't too happy to have his pictures taken with his on.

Abby put on her own headband and walked around with gloves on her feet all evening...so silly.

Making gingerbread houses...such a fun tradition. Grampy didn't get a bit of frosting on anything other than the house and I don't think Grammy got a bit of frosting on the house!!! So hilarious!

Projects, Projects, Projects

Just realized that I never posted this. Here are a few of last summer's projects. I really enjoyed sanding, painting, sanding and staining in the shade of the garage while the kiddos played outside. Now that spring is here, I am excited to come up with a few more
projects for the upcoming summer. Chad loved that other than moving the furniture he wasn't involved in another of my big ideas.

Mom gave us some of her old particle board furniture to play with. They need to be primed better next time, but I sand and rough them up anyway, so the occasional scratch blends in.

Our new piano/computer/sewing room. I absolutely LOVE it. Often in the evenings I am sewing, Chad is composing his music, the boys are on the computer and Abby is busy tearing apart the bookshelf. Fun family together time.

This room was under $50 to put together---had most of the furniture, all the paint, just had to buy a few containers and frames. Love doing things cheap!!!

Richele and I sanded and stained her kitchen table. Dad broke out the shiny white tile and placed the better looking stone tile. He's so good!!!

I asked Chad to throw away our old patio furniture a couple of years ago, but of course he didn't. This is one time I'm grateful for the pack-rat in him. My neighbor sands and paints furniture for flea markets in the summer. I love to walk across the street and purchase things "i must have" or get ideas for myself. It took a heck of a lot of sanding, but this was one of my favorites of the summer.

I painted the metal silver and painted them orange, yellow and purple. Then painted over it all with white and sanded much of the white off. LOVE IT!! For this summer I will find a fun rug and pillows to match the fun colors.

Got this idea from Pinterest. I love my fridge being free of pictures and papers, but I want the boys to display what they like. Just got some frames from the dollar store, painted them and added magnets to the back. I had more frames, but they went below the "destruction line" of Abby, so this will do for now.